Metro bus cuts may be a reality – support for license fee wavering

State lawmakers this year gave King County authority to set a temporary $20 vehicle licensing surcharge that would bring in $25 million annually for two years to shore up Metro Transit’s budget, which has been decimated by the slow economy. Getting that authority was one of the highest legislative priorities of the county – and the City of Seattle. Metro will likely cut hundreds of thousands of hours of bus service without more money.

To impose that surcharge, the nine-member County Council needs the votes of six members. To put the question before voters, five votes are required. But as Scott Gutierrez of seattlepi.com reports, there may not be support of even five Councilmembers to ask voters to approve the fee.